Introduction :-
“An Essay of Dramatic Poesy” was probably written in 1666 during the closure of the London theaters due to plague. It can be read as a general defense of drama as a legitimate art form taking up where Sir Philip Sidney’s “Defence of Poesie” left off as well as Dryden’s own defense of his literary practices. The essay is structured as a dialogue among four friends on the river Thames. The four gentlemen, Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius, and Neander. begin an ironic and witty conversation on the subject of poetry, which soon turns into a debate on the virtues of modern and ancient writers. It is how the Dryden structured the book. Now let me discuss about the views of Dryden in the essay, but before that let me give information about Dryden shortly.
John Dryden :-
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John". John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition upon principles. With Dryden, a new era of criticism began. Before, Dryden, there were only occasional utterances on the critical art. Like Ben Jonson and Philip Sidney. Though Dryden’s criticism was of scattered nature; he paid attention to almost all literary forms and expressed his views on them. Except An Essay of Dramatic Poesy, Dryden wrote no formal treatise on criticism. His critical views are found mostly in the prefaces to his poetical works or to those of others.
Dryden's essay on dramatic poesy :-
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy deals with the views of major critics and the tastes of men and women of the time of Dryden.
The work is in the form of semi-drama thus making abstract theories interesting. In the late 17th century, Shakespeare was severely criticised for his careless attitude towards the mixing of genres. It was Dryden who elevated Shakespeare to height for his natural genius.The narrative of An Essay of Dramatic Poesy has four debaters among whom, Neander is the one who holds the views of Dryden. Unlike other characters, Neander does not diminish the arguments that are on contrary to his views. Though he himself favours modern drama, he does not blame others.
Summary :-
The beginning of the narrative An Essay of Dramatic Poesy or Of Dramatic Poesie is as follows. A battle is going on between England and the Netherlands.
Four gentlemen namely Crites, Eugenius, Lisideius and Neander are travelling by boat to see the battle and start a discussion on modern literature.
Crites opens the discussion by saying that none of his contemporaries (i.e. moderns) can equal the standards and the rules set by ancient Greeks and Romans. Eugenius restrains him from wasting time on finding demerits. He asks him to find relative merit in Greeks and Moderns.
1) Do you find any difference between Aristotle's definition of Tragedy and Dryden's definition of Play?
Dryden defines Drama as: “Just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the. changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the. delight and instruction of mankind.”
Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy is, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear,effecting the proper purgation- catharsis of these and similar emotions.”
Comparison :-
Dryden was influenced by the definition of tragedy by Aristotle. And then he wrote his own new definition. In his definition dryden use the words like "just and lively" image. It means it means the real life. Where eles Aristotle present imagery life. In Aristotle ’s definition the line, ‘Tragedy, then is an imitation of an action’. Which says that tragedy is an imitation not an actual so it is copied. But Dryen wrote that it present real life, not a copied one.
This are the difference between definition of both Dryden and Aristotle.
2) If you are supposed to give your personal predilection, would you be on the side of the Ancient or the Modern? Please give reasons.
I would like to be a side of modern. Because the argument of Dryden that Discussion of ancients and moderns should not be for who is ‘better’. It should be more fundamentally about how history itself functioned and should be read thus it should be about the relationship between past and present humanity and nature and human understanding and knowledge. This is seems quite true. And the argument of him against ancient is also seems understandable.
The morden writers are supposed to be not following the rules of time, action, place. But they only look for entertainment. And according to me entertainment is something much important than rules. Because if the rules are followed but the audience feel no interest and entertainment.
The another thing is ancient dramas are not divided into acts and which makes that play boring sometimes and also a too long play reflect bad vibes. Where eles modern plays are divided into acts, as well as into scenes which make the play short and it gives a Chance to perform it more influential way.
Also as eugenius argued that, ancient have lack of originality, because their plot are always based on well known stories, so the charm of ancient found less than modern.
Of course, modern are follow ancient in many way. But still they succeeded to creat it's own identity and that's why i would like to favor modern.
(3) What would be your preference so far as poetic or prosaic dialogues are concerned in the play?
I like poetry, because it gives better understanding in much shorter form. And also it is effective because of it's lyrical way of singing. Dialogues sometimes became much long and it turns into boring felling. But poetry is always found lively and melodious.
I also agreed that poetry is sometimes hard to understand, but dialogues are much easier than poetry to understand. So if we see with that view then dialogue are also good.
Conclusion :-
Here i give information of all about Dryden's dramatic poesy and some of the other questions related that.
Words :- 1113
Reference :-
1) poetryfoundation.com
2) eaJournal.org
3) Wikipedia.com
4) Englishsummary.com
5)Alpaponda.blogspot.com
6)bhumijoshi2014-16.blogspot.com
Well penned 👌👍
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